Correspondent
IMPHAL, NOV 3 (NPN): Manipur, chief minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh on Tuesday instructed security agencies to submit a detailed report on the involvement of armed groups so that lawful action can be initiated against them.
Singh’s instruction came in the backdrop of escalating violence in the restive state, particularly in the hill region after the Naga-Kuki conflict resurfaced in February this year.
The chief minister issued the instruction during a security review meeting chaired by him on Tuesday at the cabinet hall of the chief minister’s secretariat in Imphal.
The meeting reviewed the prevailing law and order situation in the state while deliberating on measures to be taken up to strengthen security arrangements further, chief minister’s office (CMO) said in an official release.
During the meeting, the chief minister directed security officers to identify active armed groups, excluding those engaged in peace talks, suspected to be involved in the recent violence in the state.
He instructed the security agencies to submit a detailed report on the involvement of these groups at the earliest, it said.
The chief minister further stated that, based on the findings of the report, the state cabinet would be constrained to consider declaring such groups as unlawful if their involvement in violence against innocent civilians was established.
“I also made it clear that necessary action would be initiated against any groups continuing to perpetrate violence against the civilian population,” the chief minister wrote in a post on his social media handles after the meeting.
“Such groups would be dealt with under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), Singh added.
State home minister Govindas Konthoujam, chief secretary Rajeev Singh Thakur, security advisor Kuldiep Singh, DGP Mukesh Singh, ADGP (L&O) of Manipur police, commissioner (home), IGAR (S), IGAR (E), IG, CRPF, DIG BSF, SSB, ITBP, joint director of IB, senior officers of the Central security agencies and officials of the home department attended the meeting. GOC 3 Corps Lt General Girish Kalia also attended the meeting through video conferencing.
The security review meeting came in the backdrop of escalating violence involving fatalities and arson attacks in parts of hill districts of the state in the last few days.
At least five people, including two abducted by armed miscreants suspected to be belonging to a Naga armed group, were killed in recent separate violent incidents in hill districts of Senapati and Noney district.
Among them, the killing of two Kuki youths after they were abducted in Senapati district triggered a widespread protest in the neighbouring Kangpokpi district.
Though the violent activities of the protesters had subsided, the tensions continued to persist in the district as a total shutdown imposed by the Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU), Sadar Hill, was underway.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Imphal-bound vehicles, mostly goods-laden trucks, were stranded along the stretch of NH-2 beyond Kangpokpi on the Senapati side owing to the shutdown.